Time Magazine: The Death of Film

[Bill Ravens]

Ya' ll are quite right....*provided* we're dealing with a kid who CARES....aka has pride in his work. Seems like there's a ton of kids that just don't care....they're going thru the motions for $$$$. There's absolutely nothing to replace having passion for your work, eh?....and the satisfaction of knowing you did the best you could do.

[Adam Lawrence]

technically.. i dont know much about film projection, but I do know
that everytime i see a film its scratched and dirty, to some extent..

if this is bad then the theaters here in Vegas need new faculty!

[Ken Tanaka]

Ditto for me, Adam.

It's been several years since I've seen a movie in a theater. Perhaps I'm just getting older but it just became an increasingly unpleasent experience. Absurdly loud sound, often rude or thoughtless neighbors and, yes, dirty and often jittery projections finally just made me ask "Why is this worthwhile?" And my local theaters are some of the most reportedly sophisticated joints in the Midwest. But my recollections of the projections are not flattering.

Certainly I have many very fond memories of going to the movies with my friends when I was young. Perhaps that's really what the experience is meant for now. But today, with a full home theater and over 1,000 titles in our home library I think I've scraped the last gum wad from my shoes. I love -good- films but have no love for the movie theater experience any more.

[Don Donatello]

kodak must have been reading our discussion !!


Kodak Offers Projection Training
By Staff
May 06, 2002 09:26 AM PDT

Kodak Cinema Operations is offering an advanced training course for film handlers May 28-29. Building on the solid foundation provided by their beginner class, the advanced class provides students with hands-on training and knowledge of traditional film systems. The class features a low student-to-instructor ratio to maximize the amount of hands-on training provided. Advanced classes are offered in the Kodak Los Angeles training facility. The intensive two-day agenda covers the topics of film handling, projection, film characteristics, power, automation, electrical, sound, film history and saftely. How it works, soundtracks, sound formats, digital readers, troubleshooting, sound, safety, film history and maintenance.

[Joe Redifer]

It's really a shame that some theaters give virtually all theaters a bad name. The sound can be fixed so that it is loud but not "absurd". It's all in the EQ and also how you play your trailers, etc. Most theaters play the trailers at the same volume level of the movie, and as you may have noticed trailers are recorded over TWICE AS LOUD (more than 3db) as the movie. Good theaters will adjust the volume between trailers and the movie, but many places just don't care enough about their work.

[Bradley Miller]

Actually Kodak has had that training thing going for a long time. I've been to two of them and in all honesty, it's all theory and offers little real day to day use.

My rule is that the kid gets 3 shifts in the booth. If at the end of the 3rd shift he still can't thread and tackle the very basics, then he is out. If he is able to handle the basics, then he gets another couple of shifts. If after 5 shifts he hasn't pretty much mastered what he needs to know in the booth for everything except assembling prints, disassembling prints and changing trailers, he's out. If he's got it, then I keep training him until he masters everything. In other words, someone who will care and WANT to do the job will bust their hump to learn and put forth the effort. That is the kind of people I keep for they want to do the job, they want to learn and they can learn quickly which is often a requirement for emergency situations. It works well.

[Adrian Douglas]

Home theatres are great things, but they'll never replace the feeling of sitting in that dark room in front of that huge screen. I hope film dosen't die, then we'd never have these interesting discussions. Poor 'ole Joe would only have his Mac to die for then.

One thing they'll never be able to reproduce digitally is the sticky carpet.

[Chris Hurd]

My mom was just a little kid during World War Two, her older sisters were teenagers. My grandmother used to tell me stories about what it was like and what it meant for them to go to the movies during wartime in a small Nebraska town. Everybody in the theater knew everybody else, they'd watch newsreels, cartoons and sing songs together... it was a real communal experience. Quite different these days but I still dig the public aspect of a crowded theater and a big screen.

[Rob Lohman]

Well.. I got most of the things you all like right at home.

I got a very dark (DVD) hometheater... which quite often is crowded
too (friends). My beamer does a good job of producing a
screen that is larger (keeping in mind my eyes distance to
the screen) then when I'm at the local cinema. My surround
set pumps out dolby digital and DTS that is probably a better
quality than my local theater as well, primarely because I
have positioned it all perfect. In a theater you can allmost
never sit in the "perfect" sweet spot. I even got my beer
in hand reach... what more can anyone ask?

Oh.. and for those smart people around here, my theater
chairs should be coming too in the coming years.

With much DVD discs on the shelve and more only a
rental-corner away there isn't shortage of movies either.

I do tend to watch the new movies at my local theater
though... primarely because I want to see them now and
not wait for a DVD rental release (before I decide to buy them).

[Ed Smith]

If you don't mind me asking Rob how much did it all cost? I'm thinking of setting up a dedicated theater what things would I need?

Plasma or Projector?

what surround sound system?

How should it be set out? and should it be sound proffed?

Ed

[Bill Ravens]

I'm with you. Rob. Can't beat the peace and quiet. No screamin' kids, people talking, pushing, shoving, stealing my armrest. No row in front with a woman in a bouffant hairdo or some weekend cowboy who won't take his hat off. No underdone hot dogs, gum on the seats, or sticky spots from a spilled coke on the floor. No men's room war zone or waiting in line. No idiot ticket vendor asking me if I have my "senior discount". All in all, I go to the theater every once in a while just to remind myself how good it feels to be home. Kinda like hitting myself on the head with a hammer.....you know the rest.

[Adam Lawrence]

you forgot the most important of all,

hotdogs and popcorn at YOUR house is free, as opposed to the
the snacks at the movies that you nearly have to finance!!!

in home theater sounds like a good idea to me...

[Bill Ravens]

"...hotdogs and popcorn at YOUR house is free..."

only trouble is I have to make them myself. I finally taught my dog to make popcorn....except that I can't break 'im from the habit of licking all the butter up BEFORE he puts it on the popcorn....and he doesn't like mustard and onions.

[Joe Redifer]

You guys should see Brad's Home Theater!

One thing I always find entertaining to argue about is the center channels of home theaters. A lot of times I will see two massivley huge and powerful speakers sitting on the floor that are meant to be the left and right channels obviously. Then I look over and see this teeny tiny wimpy thing laying HORIZONTALLY on top of the TV. Do people honestly think that this little thing will match the output of their other huge speakers? "But I have a subwoofer that handles the low end of that channel" is usually the response. Then I also see these little "satellite" surround speakers nailed to the wall. I ask the same question and get the same response. That poor subwoofer! No longer is it a discrete channel. Many times none of the speakers are the same brand... the left and right speakers will be of a certain brand, the surrounds will be a different brand, the center channel will be it's own brand as will the subwoofer. "But they're timbre matched!" OK whatever you say!

If you want your home theater to sound really good, you'll have 3 identical speakers for your front three. They will all be able to handle a ton of bass and none of them will lay horizontally. Your surrounds should also be able to handle down to at least 80 Hz. NONE of the output of any speakers should ever be routed to the sub in Dolby Digital/DTS modes (Pro-Pogic it's kind of unavoidable since that's the way it works). Let the sub be it's own discrete channel. The low frequencies of your "stage" speakers combined with the sub (assuming it's good) will give you some really nice sounding bass... much better than if the sub had to do it all. Also don't forget to have 1/3 Octave EQ for each individual channel and set your levels with an analog (not digital) SPL meter which you can get at Radio Shack. Good levels will be close to the following with your volume knob set to what is normally your optimum listening level:

Left: 85db
Center: 84 to 84.5db
Right: 85db
Left Surround: 83 to 84db
Right Surround: 83 to 84db
Subwoofer: 98db

Set the SPL meter where you usually sit.

[Adam Lawrence]

wow,

that talk is overwhelming, i have a 27 inch and thats it!
im actually considering building up a system, yet i havent watch a peice
of television since '98. hence the reason i have not much of a visual
overload of a system. Though i do LOVE movies so I am reconsidering my options....good input though!